Good News, I Transmigrated, But What the Heck is a Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character? - Chapter 24

“Little girl, quick, look! The Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit is about to appear!” Little Gold Snake’s voice, tinged with excitement and caution, entered Yu Wanwan’s mind.

Yu Wanwan focused her gaze, only to see, at the center of the churning crimson magma ahead, what seemed like a miniature sun slowly rising.

The fist-sized fruit finally fully emerged from the magma surface. Its entire body was a deep, dark red, as if solidified blood, its surface covered in crimson-gold patterns like flowing lava.

Most bizarrely, these patterns were like living blood vessels, slowly pulsating with some silent rhythm. With each pulsation, a thick, almost solid, peculiar fragrance, sweet like sulfur and honey, burst forth.

This fragrance, formless and intangible, was like countless greedy tentacles, instantly wrapping around Sun Da and Sun Er, who were within arm’s reach.

“Big Brother! Watch out behind you!” Sun Er’s eyes suddenly bulged with terror, instantly bloodshot. He pointed in abject fear at the empty, charred rock behind Sun Da, his voice changing pitch, “There’s… there’s a Tier 3 Shadow Leopard! It’s pouncing! !”

In his distorted vision, that rock had long turned into a churning, dark green, foul-smelling swamp of poison, from which a hideous three-headed Rotten Bone Crocodile broke through the mud, its massive mouth filled with barbs and a foul wind, biting towards him. Viscous liquid dripping from its fangs corroded the air with a sizzling sound.

“You beast, you seek death!”

Sun Da suddenly turned around. The scene he saw was even more terrifying. Where was the rock? It was clearly a churning mire of poisonous mist, and that ferocious Rotten Bone Crocodile had already lunged before his eyes. The stench from its monstrous mouth almost made him faint.

Extreme terror instantly turned into furious rage. How could he still care about Yu Wanwan? All his spiritual energy poured without reservation into the steel fork “Poison Fang” in his hand. A ghastly green light surged, carrying his desperate resolve to perish together, fiercely stabbing towards the “Rotten Bone Crocodile’s” heart.

That position was exactly where Sun Er stood.

“Tian Laosan?! I didn’t expect you to still be alive!”

What Sun Er saw, however, was a different scene: his respected Big Brother Sun Da had, at this moment, transformed into a vengeful spirit with a face full of scars, a person he had personally betrayed and killed! That “vengeful spirit’s” face bore a venomous, sinister sneer, and the poisoned short knife in its hand, accompanied by a chilling wind, fiercely chopped towards his neck.

The terror of death made him completely insane. He instinctively summoned his Profound Iron small shield to block in front of him. At the same time, he infused all his strength into the steel spear in his hand and, with a desperate roar, viciously stabbed towards the “vengeful spirit’s” waist and abdomen!

Pfft!

Clang! Snap!

Two teeth-grinding sounds exploded almost simultaneously.

Sun Er’s full-powered Profound Iron small shield was as fragile as thin ice before Sun Da’s resentful, full-power strike at mid-Foundation Establishment.

The steel fork “Poison Fang” easily pierced through the shield, its momentum undiminished, and with a sound like tearing cloth, it fiercely plunged into Sun Er’s chest.

Blood instantly gushed out.

At the same time, Sun Er’s spear, infused with fear and despair, also solidly plunged into Sun Da’s side waist.

The spear tip emerged from his body, bringing out a spray of blood.

“Argh!”

Sun Er let out a brief, shrill scream. The madness and illusions in his eyes faded like a tide, leaving only endless pain and disbelief. He looked down at the steel fork in his chest, then looked at Sun Da, who was equally twisted in pain and whose eyes had regained clarity. His lips moved, but only large gushes of blood poured out. “Big… brother…?”

“Second Brother—!!!”

Sun Da felt an intense pain in his waist and abdomen, but this pain was nowhere near one ten-thousandth of the pain brought by personally watching himself stab his brother’s chest with the steel fork.

He let out a heart-wrenching wail, like a wild beast dying, this sound echoing in the magma cave, filled with despair and regret. He had personally killed his only brother.

The illusion completely dissipated, leaving only the cold, cruel reality and the thick, almost solid smell of blood.

However, just as Sun Er’s life force vanished and his pupils completely dilated,

The Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit in the magma, its crimson-gold patterns pulsating, suddenly flared.

A crimson thread, thinner than a strand of hair and almost transparent, shot out from within the fruit like lightning, accurately entering Sun Er’s wide-open mouth.

The thread, like a greedy straw, visibly made Sun Er’s still-warm corpse violently tremble. His skin rapidly shriveled, his eye sockets sunken, as if all the essence from his body and his undissipated soul had been instantly sucked dry.

The thread, carrying a hint of satisfied glow, retracted back to the fruit’s surface. The pulsation of the patterns seemed even stronger.

“Demonic woman! It’s you! You’re behind all this!!” Having personally witnessed his brother’s tragic death and horrified by the bizarre red thread, Sun Da went completely insane.

He violently pulled out the long spear from his side, ignoring the gushing blood and the pain that almost tore him apart. His bloodshot eyes, like a vengeful spirit crawled out of hell, locked onto Yu Wanwan, who stood quietly to the side.

The venom, madness, and killing intent in his eyes almost solidified into a tangible sharpness. The remaining spiritual energy within his body burned wildly as if doused in boiling oil. The pressure of a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, mixed with the tyranny of a dying fierce beast, erupted with a roar.

“I’ll make you pay for Second Brother’s life!!!” He shrieked, swinging the blood-stained steel fork “Poison Fang.” A ghastly green poisonous light mixed with blood qi enveloped his entire body, turning him into a miserable, deadly afterimage, charging madly towards Yu Wanwan with a desperate resolve to perish together.

His speed was so fast that it only left a bloody afterimage in place.

Yu Wanwan’s pupils sharply constricted. The Scarlet Feather Burning Heaven Art within her instantly operated at its maximum.

It wasn’t that she was unaffected by the strange fragrance; it was because…

“Tsk tsk tsk, two fools! They can’t even withstand the bewildering miasma emanating from a rotten fruit. Truly embarrassing!” Little Gold Snake’s lazy, deeply disdainful childish voice, filled with a condescending scorn, clearly resounded in Yu Wanwan’s mind: “Little girl, don’t panic!”

“Though this Grandpa’s cultivation has dropped severely, this little bit of bewildering miasma?

Hmph, back then, it wouldn’t even be enough as an appetizer for this Grandpa!

With this Grandpa here, this rotten fruit wants to bewitch you?

Not a chance! It’s nothing!”

Just as Sun Da, enveloped in a bloody whirlwind and the tragic aura of perishing together, lunged within three feet of Yu Wanwan, a sharp glint erupted in Yu Wanwan’s eyes. She didn’t retreat; instead, she advanced.

“Flame-Winged Tiger, appear!”

A clear, cold command. Her spiritual energy instantly erupted.

Roar!!!

A deafening tiger’s roar tore through the闷 (stifling) atmosphere of the cave.

A giant fire tiger, the size of a small mountain, appeared out of thin air.

It had a pair of enormous wings burning with fierce flames on its back. The moment it appeared, a scorching heatwave violently exploded, scattering the permeating strange fragrance and bloody smell.

The intense heat distorted the air. It was a Tier 2 spirit beast, the Flame-Winged Tiger.

The Flame-Winged Tiger quickly enlarged its form. Its blood-red tiger eyes locked onto the pouncing Sun Da. Its huge tiger claw, entwined with crimson flames and radiating terrifying high temperatures that could burn everything, ruthlessly slammed down on the frenzied Sun Da’s head.

Its might was tremendous, as if it would shatter space itself.

Sun Da’s mind was already torn by resentment and intense pain. Facing this crushing claw, his last shred of reason made him forcibly twist his heavily injured body, trying to dodge.

“Now is the moment!” Yu Wanwan was waiting for this precise moment of vulnerability.

Her hands had already completed the hand seals. Spiritual energy surged wildly within her. A wisp of incredibly pure, golden-red Phoenix True Fire, imbued with the will to incinerate, was carefully integrated into her spell!

“Fiery Rain Meteor Shower!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

No longer ordinary fireballs, but three fist-sized meteors, entirely burning with brilliant white flames, with a dazzling golden glow flickering at their core.

They trailed long, air-distorting fiery tails and, forming a triangular shape, moved as if they had eyes, precisely blocking all of Sun Da’s dodging angles.

The high temperature emanating from the golden glow at their core seemed to dim the distant magma, and a burning sensation originating from the depths of the soul permeated the air.

In front was the Flame-Winged Tiger’s earth-shattering claw, and behind were the soul-locking, life-taking True Fire meteors.

Sun Da had nowhere to escape.

“No! I’m not willing!!” He only managed to let out a roar filled with endless resentment and despair.

Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Flame-Winged Tiger’s massive claw struck first. Sun Da’s hastily condensed spiritual energy shield instantly shattered like a soap bubble.

Immediately after, three “meteors” infused with the power of Phoenix True Fire fiercely struck him.

Blinding golden-red light instantly engulfed Sun Da’s figure. The shrill, desperate scream lasted only half a breath, then abruptly ceased as if his throat had been cut.

Only a violently burning, deeply charred pit remained in place. A few unrecognizable pieces of charcoal were scattered within it. Even his poisoned “Poison Fang” steel fork was twisted and deformed by the terrifying high temperature, its spiritual light completely gone.

Almost at the exact moment Sun Da’s life force vanished,

Another crimson, bizarre thread, even more solid than before and almost transparent, shot out again from the Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit.

This time, it directly pierced through the permeating smoke and high temperature, accurately vanishing into Sun Da’s charred remains. The charcoal-like remains visibly turned to ash at a rapid rate. A trace of residual essence and life origin was greedily drawn away by the thread, shrinking back into the fruit’s interior.

The crimson-gold patterns on the Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit’s surface glowed intensely, pulsating even more powerfully, as if a sleeping demonic heart was reviving.

The Flame-Winged Tiger let out a low growl, retracted its burning wings, and obediently lowered its head, gently nudging Yu Wanwan’s palm with its large head, as if seeking praise.

Yu Wanwan’s face was slightly pale. Continuously urging the Flame-Winged Tiger and using the Fiery Rain Meteor Shower infused with True Fire had greatly consumed her Qi Condensation stage spiritual energy.

She quickly walked to the edge of the magma pool and condensed a ball of Phoenix True Fire in her palm.

The intense pulsation of the Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit became chaotic in front of the Phoenix True Fire, seeming very afraid.

“Oh, well done, little girl!” Little Gold Snake’s voice emerged again, with a smug tone. “With this Grandpa guarding your mind, plus your passable little tiger, dealing with this kind of trash is like child’s play, isn’t it?”

“Then thank you,” Yu Wanwan carefully wrapped the Thousand-Year Earth Core Fruit with Phoenix True Fire and put it into her storage pouch.

Before putting it into her storage pouch, Yu Wanwan, following Little Gold’s instructions, added a restriction to it to prevent it from releasing illusions.

Yu Wanwan walked to the remains and ashes left by Sun Da and Sun Er and quickly searched.

Soon, two bulging, blood-stained and charred storage pouches were in her hand.

Her divine sense swept through them, and Yu Wanwan’s tense face couldn’t help but break into a smile.

“I’m rich!” she thought to herself.

In the two storage pouches, there were indeed hundreds of low-grade spirit stones, a few medium-grade spirit stones suffused with spiritual energy, several bottles of pills labeled for healing and qi replenishment, some scattered, faintly shimmering ores and spiritual herbs, a few jade slips recording basic cultivation techniques, and a few Yellow-grade magical artifacts.

For Yu Wanwan, who had just stepped into the cultivation world and possessed nothing, this was undoubtedly an astonishing windfall.

“Tsk~”

Little Gold Snake’s disdainful snort came, filled with contempt: “Just these broken copper and iron, and stone scraps, make you grin from ear to ear? Look at you, so easily pleased!

Wait until this Grandpa recovers some vitality, I’ll take you to dig up truly good treasures.

That’s what you call treasure.

Heavenly materials and earthly treasures, divine weapons and sharp artifacts at every turn. These things? Not even enough to fill a tooth gap!”

Yu Wanwan quickly put away the storage pouches. Finally, she cast a cold glance at the charred deep pit on the ground and the remnants that had long turned to ash, her eyes like ice.

The path of cultivation was fraught with thorns and dangers at every step. If it weren’t for Little Gold and the Flame-Winged Tiger today, she would have been the one lying here, turned to ash.